JPMorgan Entity Barred from India's Securities Market over Manipulation Allegations

India's Securities and Exchange Board (SEBI) has barred JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s entity, Copthall Mauritius Investment, from trading in the country's securities market. This decision comes after SEBI alleged that Copthall used a new method of calculating closing prices to manipulate the BSE Sensex stocks on August 13.

The regulator claims that Copthall placed large buy orders across all Sensex stocks at significantly higher prices than prevailing market levels, with some orders later cancelled. This was allegedly done to artificially push up prices and increase the value of Copthall's expiring options positions, generating a gain of 29.6 million rupees ($309,607).

The CAS (Closing Auction Session), introduced on August 3, has been criticized for being susceptible to manipulation due to thin liquidity and dominated by institutional participation.